Blackman, Betty Joan | American Libraries Magazine

Betty Joan Blackman, 90, a founder of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) and former ALA councilor, died October 4. Blackman served as dean of libraries at California State University, Dominguez Hills, from 1986 until her 1999 retirement. She had previously worked at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and California State University, Long Beach. She received BCALA’s Leadership Award in 1994 and was interviewed as part of the California Library Leader Memory Project in 2014.

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The troubling trend of book challenges and bans in libraries across the US continues. Behind each title is an author being professionally—and sometimes personally—targeted for the stories they have chosen to share. These works usually amplify marginalized voices such as abuse victims or those within the LGBTQ+ community. American Libraries spoke with five authors—Patricia McCormick, Stephen Chbosky, Malinda Lo, Ellen Hopkins, and Jennifer L. Armentrout—on the Top 11 Most Challenged Books of 2025 list to hear how their experiences affected them.

American Libraries Online, Oct. 5–6
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Gavin Baker writes: “Advocacy for libraries has been at the heart of ALA’s mission for 150 years. A new publication by ALA’s Public Policy and Advocacy Office explores milestones and other key achievements impacting school libraries, access to government information, copyright, civic engagement, library workers, the freedom to read, and more. These policies and initiatives enable the work of libraries thousands of times a day across the country.”

ALA150, Sept. 30
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Elisabeth Egan and John Maher write: “We spoke with dozens of librarians at the ALA Annual Conference this summer in Chicago. They want you to know about book bans and budget cuts, but also about career counseling and crafting groups and pop-up medical clinics. They want you to worry, the way they worry, about artificial intelligence, looming legislation, and harassment of their staff. But most of all, they want you to know what the library really is: a safe place for people to gather around books, ideas, and one another. Here’s what librarians had to say, in their own words.”

New York Times, Oct. 1
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ALA and the American Association of School Librarians endorsed the bicameral Quality Educator Partnership Act (QEPA). QEPA would address nationwide educator shortages by building federal infrastructure, removing barriers to the profession, expanding preparation pathways, and strengthening data and accountability. Notably, the bill also promotes efforts to make working in education a more attractive, affordable, and sustainable career options for today’s workforce. The bill’s provisions either directly specify the inclusion of school library media specialists or use the term “educator,” which, as defined, includes school library media specialists.

ALA Public Policy and Advocacy Office, Sept. 30
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Emily Long writes: “Canva is one of the most popular design tools for creating everything from fliers and business cards to interactive presentations. It’s pretty user-friendly even for those who don’t have any design experience, but if you want to level up your Canva experience, consider these tips and tricks.”

Lifehacker, Sept. 29
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Roger C. Schonfeld writes: “We are moving away from a model that is primarily organized around digital asset management. Instead, we may wish to think in terms of the activation infrastructure for distinctive collections. Rather than comparatively passive institutional digital custody, an activation infrastructure has as its purpose to maximize the impact of distinctive collections. This activation infrastructure incorporates library and archival professionals, technicians and student workers, distinctive collections, processing workflows, digital systems, and consortial and other cross-institutional tooling, among other elements. Foundationally, it is a kind of fly-wheel, benefiting from, and in turn generating, cross-institutional scale.”

The Scholarly Kitchen, Sept. 29
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Olina Banerji writes: “School boards have been mired in fractious political debates in recent years. Fights with parents and community members have branched out to topics like transgender students’ rights and whether to remove certain books from school libraries. But beyond school board meetings, communities don’t have easy access to information on how their school board members vote on these topics. A new national dashboard will present data on how school boards in 161 districts vote on book bans, LGBTQ-student policies, limits on what teachers can teach, private school choice, and the presence of immigration enforcement agents in schools.”

Education Week, Sept. 25

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